Charging, reluctantly, into 2014

Holidays are done, and I am both happy and sad to see them go. Now to de-Christmas the house, pick up the last of the streamers from New Year's Eve and put it all away for another year.

Holidays are done, and I am both happy and sad to see them go. Now to de-Christmas the house, pick up the last of the streamers from New Year's Eve and put it all away for another year.

The next few months leave me to question why we still live here in the Northeast.

Once Christmas is over, winter really loses its charm for me. These next three months can be brutal. It is cold and dark and all I want to do is lie down on my couch and not answer my phone.

Spring seems so far away, and the temperature hovers at such an unbearable number for far longer than it should. It is these months that confirm to me how my love of New Hampshire and my desire to live there is pure insanity.

Now I worry.

I stress about tires that are looking bald and the heater and the pipes. I love when the days are long and lights are off and the windows are open. Heat and lights on constantly makes me anxious.

Three months, I tell myself. April is coming.

I could use this time to transform myself, which has always been my resolution each and every year.

Instead of opening up my cabinet with all of the plastic containers in it and having them crash to the floor, I would love to become that person who is organized and puts everything in its place.

I would adore a kitchen utensil drawer that doesn't pose a stabbing threat when searching for something. To find a pen that works in the mess of a "desk" would be novel. So would all clean clothes put away after being folded.

Maybe opening up my cabinet and having Tylenol fall out and bonk me in the head because it needs to go back in the medicine cabinet might change this dark winter.

Maybe, like a butterfly, I will emerge from the dark winter cocoon and take flight. Maybe this is the year that my socks go in the sock drawer, all in perfect little balls. Or I can actually walk into my bedroom without being horrified by it.

I started my new year off in the supermarket this morning and my plan was to stock the house with nothing but healthy goodness. Kale and Brussels sprouts, and anything labeled antioxidant was on my list. But I know how I am, and I start off with a bang each and every year.

When I mess up, even just a misstep, I give up.

So what did I do? I threw some English breakfast tea in the cart.

That's it.

I never drink it. I drink coffee, with half and half and sugar. But one small change I can handle. I might even sip it, and NOT stress about the heater and the tires or the lights.